Examining Halo's Scariest Mission

Somehow I just found this video and your channel. I have a lot to say about this mission (also my favorite) but maybe I should start up my discord again and talk there. One thing I love is that the title of this level makes absolutely no sense at all until you’ve actually completed the entire nightmare.

I just realized that in the 2 missions where Cortana isn’t with you, you don’t get any waypoints because she’s the one who places them.

Jackal: Never thought i'd die side by side with a human Human: How about side by side with a friend? Jackal: Aye, i could do that

I’ve always found it hilarious we just left Cortana alone lol, like the story would’ve been soooo different had a random elite just walked by that room, gone “wort wort wort” and stolen her 😂

Your marines getting picked off one by one while you’re desperately trudging through that swamp was some next level nightmare as a kid

I remember getting lost in this level and seeing the marine's and jackal's bodies together. That genuinely spooked me

Never knew about the dead marines when you go back up the elevator, guess this game still has some surprises all these years later

Fun fact, you can kill the flood you see early on in the swamp, with your pistol. On splitscreen back in what, 2005, with my dad, we played so often we knew where to look to find and kill them. Man those your good times. He was still around for halo 5 but that was the first time they took splitscreen off and we couldn’t play together. Halo 4 was the last game I beat with him. Halo was always, and even now is always here for me. I miss him.

Hello All. Tim Dadabo, the voice of 343 Guilty Spark. Thanks for this video. Of all the games, this one was the 'deepest' I had to go to dig out his emotions for the storyline, so I'm glad you both loved AND HATED it so much! Until we meet again, Tim Dadabo. Oh...want a Cameo? Look me up. I'm there!

I would like to also note that every Covenant patrol encountered within the facility has their weapons trained on doors that lead deeper inside before you engage them.

What made the mission hit so hard was it was a really well kept secret. Nowhere in the game's advertisement, game booklet, box art, NOTHING hinted at the floods existence. 343 Guilty Spark is such a surprising and sharp shift in tone. The game has gone on long enough up until this mission that it seems you pretty much know what you're up against for the rest of the game. Bungie keeping the floods existence a tightly kept secret until you face them is what truly makes the atmosphere, tone, and reveal memorable.

One of the most creepiest thing I also saw is green cortana.

Bungie: “this is a science fiction game where you kill aliens as a badass human” Also Bungie: “let’s left field scare these fuckers with zombies midway through the game with no warning”

Holy crap, I've been playing this game since 04 and I never knew that marine bodies would spawn if you go back up the elevator into the swamp, crazy

Another detail about the second elevator that descends, it also introduces infected humans as well revealing what happened to the human bodies.

The jackals and marines working together was amazing

Your explanation of this level is spot on. We thought Halo was going to be just mowing through Alien bastards yet, bungie did one of the greatest game twists ever by making it a masterful horror piece as well. I'll never forget my first time encountering the flood. They just wouldn't stop after a whole magazine of 60 rounds into the center mass!

Time for an overview of one of the best gaming twists ever.

Typically in horror games, the player character has few or no ways to fight back. Bungie did a great job here. You have the best equipment available, and are a super solider, but still feel the sense of doom and desperation, even as you hold down your trigger.

I love how the group of Marine and Jackal bodies together isn't something the game forces you to see annoyingly. It's just there as environmental storytelling that those Jackals and Marines knew the Flood was the bigger threat and fought against them together. And after the cutscene of Jenkins we see "Unexpected Halt WND/INCAP/KIA?" So his suit knew Jenkins was wounded and incapacitated but because of the Flood infection. It couldn't tell if he was alive or dead....